What shouldn't have happened
by Darkest Water
Summary: FINISHED. Naruto and Kakashi are captured and taken to Ayaka. A team is devised to get them back, but bringing them back is difficult and leads to unplanned complications.
1. Reality

Sakura stood there emotionless hoping she would wake up. She would not cry because it wasn't real… No, it just couldn't be real. Life can't be this cruel.

_Or can it?_ She thought to herself. _No, no, no, no please no, no._ She begged an imaginary force to let her go back but she knew it wouldn't happen. She couldn't have stopped what had just happened in the state her body was in but still, she felt like she could have. _I should have pushed my self to keep fighting; I shouldn't have been so…so weak. _She pushed away all of the pink hair that fell into her face. She was still feeling impassive, this didn't seem like reality to her. She tried to stand up. Her metal battle finally ceased as the truth dawned on her, this was real.

Her muscles went completely limp as her attempt to stand up failed. She felt so weak. Sakura dropped onto her knees, and then completely fell over. As her face hit the ground it stung and burned my open wounds and flesh. Finally the emotional blankness broke and she cried. The tears slowly dripped from her face onto the cold ground. She silently cried as she realized her world was ruined.

_Those people who I loved and cared for and had known for so many years were dead in front of me. And me, the one who was too weak to carry on and fight, the one who lives? It made no sense. I hate this feeling...No I hate myself…It was my entire fault and I had to be the one to live._ Shouta hit the back of her neck hard causing her to slip into unconsciousness.

Sakura awoke in the hospital with several bandages applied to her legs, face and arms. Several deep slashes were cut across her upper arms from the poisoned kunai thrown at her during the battle. It wasn't funny, yet she almost laughed thinking she survived. She tried to get out of her bed, but failed and fell onto her knees hitting the wooden floor with a loud thump.

"Sakura!" Shizune's voice rang in Sakura's head and pierced through the silence that that engulfed the room.

The door slid open quickly. Shizune entered and immediately helped Sakura to her feet and onto the bed.

"Are you alright Sakura?" Shizune talked very slowly and somewhat quietly. She was slightly disgruntled over what happened. Her voice lingered in the air like a heavy perfume: strong and enduring.

Flashback:

**It was late at night and Sakura was on the outskirts of the village, walking in the cold and crisp fall air.**

**Suddenly, Sakura sensed a presence of people behind her. She turned around but no one was visible. As she turned back around to resume walking, her eyes met with two ninja, many yards away. They were obviously not from the Hidden Leaf Village. The two men wore matching black pants and dark blue shirts with a symbol she had never seen before. Both ninjas lacked a forehead protector making it difficult to identify from which village they had come. **

"**Hey little girl, shouldn't you been in bed at this hour?" one of the ninja called to her. Sakura was unaffected by his insult. His disrespect, which she would not usually receive as Tsunade's apprentice, signified they were unfriendly.**

**The ninja that spoke to her seemed slightly shorter than 6 feet. He looked about 20 years old. He had messy light hair that was somewhat long for a male. He had extremely bright green eyes. They looked as if they glowed in the dim but prevailing light of the moon, which was hidden behind a few scattered clouds. He had very defining features that made him somewhat handsome. Despite this though, there was a certain darkness of character that emitted from him. It was as if his very soul was tainted. **

"**I said, shouldn't you been in bed!" he said as he ran at her so fast that he almost seemed inhuman. **

**Immediately, Sakura collect chakra into her fist and punched the ground letting it all go. Rocks came throttling from the ground in effects like an earthquake. The effects from the punch hit him hard causing him to fly backward. **

**He landed on his back hitting the ground. The light haired ninja frowned. Sakura apparently did some damage to him. **

**The second ninja spoke, "Pretty good. For a little girl" he said with a twisted smirk. His voice was cold and uncomfortable like freezing metal. **

**This man had very defining features too although he was not nearly as handsome as the light haired ninja. He had very dark and cold eyes that looked lifeless and empty. His hair was an orange-brown color; it was kind of electrifying, and almost refreshing. Certainly different than most colors you come across. Regardless of this, his hair did not seem to match his personality. He looked about 25 or at the very least, he looked older then the first ninja. He was also mildly taller.**

**The orange haired ninja looked as if he was about to attack so Sakura collected more chakra into her hand. He then formed several hand signs very quickly and then he vanished in a puff of smoke. Trying to keep her eyes on the light haired ninja, she scanned the surrounding area for the ninja that seemed to disappear. She noticed no changes in the environment as he appeared behind her. His partner had a smirk at her confused face.**

**Before Sakura had a chance to turn around or prepare herself, he grabbed her right wrist. He then spun her around and threw her with a lot of force toward his partner. His partner jumped into the air and threw several kunai at her. Sakura quickly rolled out of the way and stood up. He threw another round of kunai at her so she jumped out of the way again. This time when he threw his kunai he threw some at her feet with several exploding notes attached to them. **

**Sakura once again dodged the round of kunai, this time landing on the ground for a moment to catch her breath. He got ready to throw more kunai at her when the orange haired ninja ran at her. He tried to kick her in the back to stop her from dodging when she turned around, and quickly grabbed his foot. Sakura pulled and set him off balance then kicked him with her right leg. He fell onto the ground in pain. One of the men threw a kunai to puncture the skin on her right arm Sakura then turned around to charge at him.**

**The kunai had had a numbing poison on it, which Sakura began to feel as her arm started to go completely numb. It was useless now, hindering Sakura's attack power. **

**The ninja with the orange hair was standing now, and once again going to attack. Sakura readied herself by collecting some of her remaining chakra into her fist once again. This time she ran at him with her left fist and then jumped into the air. She was aiming and it looked as if she was going to hit him perfectly. **

**Sakura hit him squarely in the chest. He went flying backward many yards from impact before finally landing. He was weakened immensely, as he had difficulty standing. He was now tremendously irritated. Sakura smirked in his direction. He immediately realized she was not as weak as they joked prior to this point. The ninja that threw kunai was genuinely surprised. **

**She once again charged at the orange haired ninja ready to try and end this fight when the light haired ninja jumped in front of him. She readied herself to attack, when suddenly he ran toward her and caught her in the stomach. She fell backward and hit the ground hard but the resulting damage was not nearly as bad as what Sakura inflicted upon the orange haired ninja. **

**The white haired ninja started throwing his poison covered kunai again but when she dodged them she had not realized one had an exploding note attached to it. It exploded catching Sakura in the blast. She fell to the ground but landed on her feet. He sneered at her as she breathed deeply trying to catch her breath. Sakura's foot hurt because of the explosion, but she still stood up and tried to continue on fighting. She regained her strength for a moment and was about to run at the white haired ninja again when something grabbed her foot. **

**The pain seared in Sakura's foot as he pulled and she fell to the ground. The man kicked her as she had done to him before. He almost exactly repeated what she did to him. Expect, this time Sakura got up and took him on in taijutsu. Her moves, though more blunt than intricate were certainly giving him a challenge. His moves, more swift and graceful were standing up against her just as well.**

**They were locked in battle when Sakura got an opening and swept his feet in a kick powered with chakra. He fell to the ground hard and when she was about to finish him off she felt several sharp pains in her legs and back. The white haired had stabbed her with his poisoned weapons. As the poison started taking affect, she heard laughter behind her as she fell to the ground. **

"**Damn it!" Sakura said as she completely lost control of her limbs and fell on her stomach. **

End of Flashback (flashback to be continued)


	2. Abduction

Flashback (continued)

**Sakura's body was sprawled on the ground completely useless. The light haired ninja walked over to stand next to the orange haired one and helped him up. **

"**Good job, Shouta." Both ninjas smirked at Sakura from above. She spat at their feet. Shouta once again laughed at her. He got ready to punch her in the neck to knock her out. He lifted his fist above her when a kunai hit him in the hand.**

**Shouta slightly wimpered as he pulled out the kunai that was embedded deep in his skin.**

**A silver turf of hair could be seen streaking across the forest. **__**Sakura look up at the two men, Shouta looked completely shocked and the other man looked someone surprised but not nearly as much as Shouta. **

**Kakashi landed in front of Sakura and said, "It's been a while, Hiroto." He voice was filled with disgust as he spoke. **

"**Ahh, Kakashi, the Copy Cat Nin, what a **_**pleasant**_** surprise." He said sarcastically. **

**Sakura looked at Kakashi in awe. **

"**Sakura, are you alright?" He asked her without turning his head; he was still staring intently at Hiroto. **

"**Yes, but I am incapacitated" She replied.**

**Kakashi sighed, "I suppose this has something to do with you Shouta?" Kakashi asked the white haired ninja. He just smirked as if admiring a picture he had just painted.**

"**Well I suppose we shouldn't just stand around talking?" Kakashi said as if he was addressing some old friends. "Shall we pick up where we left off?" **

"**Sure I have to repay you for this anyway" Shouta said with a false pleasantness as he lifted his bleeding hand that Kakashi hit with the kunai. **

**All three ninja jumped away readying themselves to fight. Kakashi pulled his mask off of his sharigan.**__

**Kakashi glanced at Sakura. There was a glint in his eye that said he was ready to fight. She could tell he was not going to lose. **

**Sakura, who was consumed by her thoughts didn't notice the orange and blonde streak of color jump through the forest in front of her. **

**She looked up to see Naruto next to her. "Everything's going to be okay, Sakura-chan." He paused as if looking for the correct words to say. "Kakashi-sensei heard a battle going on from his house and came and got me. He says these guys are from a small village of mercenaries on an island outside of the Hidden Village of Mist." **

**Within an instant their battle had begun. "Naruto! Good, you're here; I need you to back me up." He called to Naruto as he dodged some poisoned senbon that Shouta chucked at him.**

**Kakashi performed some hand signs very rapidly and formed Chidori. Kakashi ran quickly at Hiroto, with his Chidori ready to strike. Hiroto saw this coming but did not have a chance to move far away enough to evade Kakashi. **

**Kakashi struck the man in the abdomen. Hiroto went flying backward and hit a tree with his head. He was unconscious. Shouta once again hurled more needles at Kakashi only for him to dodge them. **

"**You do know an attack like that will never touch me, right?" Kakashi said almost mockingly to Shouta. Shouta grunted at Kakashi. **

"**Naruto, why don't you join in on this fight?"**

"**Alright" Naruto said somewhat hesitantly. He was surprised at Kakashi's additude. Kakashi then smirked at the fact that Shouta was actually kind of frightened of Naruto. Sakura started to feel useless in the situation.**

**Naruto formed the appropriate hand signs and one shadow clone appeared. He then formed Rasengan in his hand with help from his shadow clone. Naruto ran toward Shouta with his Rasengan. Shouta, who was stunned by the ball of swirling chakra in Naruto's hand stood frozen on the spot. Naruto rammed the rasengan into Shouta, sending him whirling backward. **

"**Good job, Naruto", Kakashi said. Shouta landed on the ground very far away. He was completely surprised at the attack. **

**Kakashi pulled his mask back over his eye. "We'll take care of this in the morning"**

**Shouta was not stupid, though.**

**Both Naruto and Kakashi believed he was knocked out and he would end up using this to his advantage.**

"**Hiroto! Now!" Shouta shouted. **

"**Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called as Kakashi began turning, about to look at Hiroto. **

"**Behind you!" Hiroto formed some hand signs very quickly and appeared behind Kakashi. Before anyone could do anything Hiroto stabbed Kakashi in the back. Kakashi fell forward unconscious and bleeding out.**

**Out of rage Naruto ran at Hiroto and screamed a disgruntled battle cry. **

**While he was turned though running at Hiroto, Shouta threw several poisoned shuriken at Naruto's back.**

"**Naruto!" Sakura yelled as he fell over and was kicked in the neck. She still couldn't move, let alone heal their wounds. **

**Shouta then jumped over to her and hit her in the forehead, knocking her out.**

End of Flashback


	3. Resolve

"Sakura…Sakura…Sakura!" Shizune's voice cut through her recall of the battle. Her voice became increasingly louder. She started sounding more like herself.

"Shizune, what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"What happened to Naruto and Kakashi?"

"Oh…err… you don't remember?"

"No! What happened, Shizune!" Sakura was becoming annoyed.

"They were kidnapped two nights ago. You were found in the rain yesterday morning unconscious." She paused, she seemed as if she didn't want to go on. It was if it was painful to do so.

"You were found with a note next to you. It said it was a gift to the village that you were spared. It also said that they kidnapped Kakashi and Naruto. If anyone tries to save them it said that they will 'take back their gift' and-"

"So they're not dead?" Sakura said confused yet happy,

Shizune nodded her head once.

"I know who the two men are that took Kakashi and Naruto! What is the village doing about this? Are we going after them?" Sakura said becoming increasingly worked up.

"Well, Tsunade-sama said as soon as you were better they would consider putting together a team to go after them. We know it was Hiroto and Shouta from Ayaka Island that took them. The poison we found in your blood stream confirmed this."

"I'm conscious now, Tsunade-sama can put together a team. I will get Naruto and Kakashi back." Sakura said confidently.

"Well… um…Sakura, Tsunade-sama wasn't waiting until you were better so you could be on the team to get them back. She was waiting for more information and in the case that they attacked the village again, looking for you, you would be prepared." Shizune replied with regret in her voice.

"What!" Sakura yelled at her outraged "She doesn't want me to be on the team? Well, I don't care. I am going to be part of getting them back. It was my fault that they were captured and I won't tell them down!"

"I you feel so strongly I guess you can talk to her. I wouldn't expect much, though"

"Alright" Sakura said standing up, though it hurt. She walked out of the room and headed out of the building to find the Hokage.

As Sakura walked quickly to the Hogake's tower she was trying to ignore the pain she was enduring. Her legs stung with each stride she took. Several people stared at her as she walked down the road.

"Yeah I heard she was almost killed by a sound ninja"… a short nearby boy whispered to his equally small friend. When they noticed Sakura looking at them their faces turned red and they looked embarrassed.

Sakura just continued walking until she arrived at the tower. She knocked very loudly on her door.

"Come in" She called from within the room. Sakura opened the door and entered.

"Ahh, Sakura, how pleasant to see you walking and conscious agai-"

Before she could finish Sakura cut her off and began yelling, "How can you expect me to just sit around while Naruto and Kakashi are captured somewhere? It was partially my fault on top of that. I want to help retrieve them!"

"Sakura." She replied tonelessly, "They already had the chance to kill you and you are in no condition to travel so far anyway. I forbid you to join them. Just stay here, I am confident the team I put together with help get them back."

"No. I can't just stay here! Please Tsunade-sama, please let me join them. Besides, I know their attack patterns and I could be useful as a medic-nin." Sakura's voice became aggravated with Tsunade's continuous objections to letting her go.

She sighed. "There is no convincing you, is there?"

"No. If you do not give me permission, I will be forced to go without it." Sakura replied with a steady and deceiving tone.

Tsunade sighed again. "Hmm. Alright, you have permission to go. The team is leaving in three days. Lee, Tenten, Hinata, and Neji will accompany you on this mission." She said seeming too overwhelmed with paperwork to argue with her anymore.

"We will get them back, Tsunade." She looked at the Hokage with a strong face.

"I know you guys will Sakura. As long as you do not drag the team down with your injuries you will probably be a lot of help. I have faith in you."


	4. Traveling

It was finally the day that the team was to leave on the rescue mission.

Sakurabegan packing clothing and food in a small backpack that she would carry while traveling. She then put some shuriken and kunai into a small container that would be placed on her waist. She looked around her room making sure there wasn't anything else she was planning on taking with her that she had forgotten. There was nothing so she exited her room.

I said goodbye to her mother briefly and exited the house. It was too early to meet up with the others so she decided to go back to the clearing where Naruto and Kakashi were defeated.

Sakura looked to the ground where there were small patches of spattered blood. Her eyes widened thinking about when Hiroto stabbed Kakashi.

It was completely awful seeing him look so vulnerable and as she had laid uselessly on the ground. She felt horrible thinking she could do nothing to help him at the time.

Her eyes began filling with tears. She still couldn't accept that Naruto and Kakashi, perhaps two of the strongest ninja she knew, were captured.

She was consumed buy thoughts of where they were right now. It scared her to think of what could be happening them to them. Besides…they were on enemy territory.

Suddenly, she realized that it was probably about time to meet up with the others. She began walking toward the outside of town.

"Oh, there you are Sakura!" Tenten called from the large gate to the outside of town. She jogged over to them and they began walking out of town on their way to save Naruto and Kakashi.

They traveled along the dirt road from the village until it stopped going in the direction they were headed. They began jumping trees. No one spoke much along the way there except for once. They were taking a short break.

"S-Sakura-san..." Hinata's voice seemed to almost drift away as she spoke.

"A-Are you, um, going t-to, um, be alright…?" Hinata said. Her face looked afraid as if she regretted to ask her.

"I'm fine, Hinata" Sakura said somewhat cheerfully. Though it was fake she smiled warmly trying to calm her.

Sakura hid behind this smile, though. She felt like screaming until all of the pain left her. As she smiled all four of her acquaintances faces looked around blankly. They all seemed as though they were all lost in thought. A small bit of concern was hinted on each of their faces, each for their own personal reasons. They decided that everyone was ready to begin traveling again and resumed their journey to Ayaka.

"Are we getting close yet?" Tenten called to Neji, who was a bit ahead of everyone else.

He was the leader of their mission to Ayaka.

"Not really. We have gone a good distance so far, though. Especially in the small amount of time we have traveled."

"All right, then." She said somewhat quietly. She was beginning to grow bored of this continuous traveling.

"Neji." Sakura called to him.

"Yes?" He responded. She couldn't read his voice to tell what he was thinking. He seemed empty.

"What are we planning on doing one we reach Ayaka? In fact how are we even going to reach the island?" It hit her suddenly. They were going to have to reach the island by some means other than just traveling on top of the water. It was too far in the water to reach it that way.

"We will actually be arriving on the island as 'prisoners'. We have a friend of Kohona that runs the boat to Ayaka, but there will be guards. So we will be escorted by them to the boat and supervised as we arrive. Still though, we will not be harmed, because if anything goes wrong we will have Akemi to help us. She is trustworthy, Kohona has worked with her before and Tsunade-sama said she was reliable."


	5. Feigned

Nothing happened for the rest of the day; they just continued traveling to Ayaka. They took a break for several hours to sleep and then once again, they continued. Still, no one spoke except for the occasional few words here or there for insignificant reasons.

They were only a day from the dock where they were to pretend to get captured.

Neji relayed the rest of the information.

There would we several security ninja watching the docks, so the alliance with Akemi would have to be kept undisclosed from the other ninja. Being 'captured' also gave them an advantage over the Ayaka ninja. The team hoped to be place somewhere near Naruto and Kakashi, making the task of finding them significantly easier.

With no important developments they were finally near Akaya. They stopped and ran through the plan of how they would get 'captured'. All Sakura, Neji, & Hinata would have to do is feign a lack of fighting skill. The key was to be believable.

Tenten had the job of alerting the ninja that they were there. She was to fall out of the bush the team was hiding in. This would presumably start the attack from the other ninjas.

For the time being the team hid their chakra signatures as well as they could, as soon as Tenten was ready they were to stop doing this and give away their position.

They got into arrangement. Tenten purposely fell out of the bush and as the team expect, they immediately felt chakra signatures surround them. The rest of the team turned around to look upon the Ayaka ninjas.

There stood three ninja, one of them was smirking at them like them were small children that got lost.

The first ninja on the left side was a man with cinnamon brown hair. He had hazel-brown eyes that were dark and threatening. He was the one smirking at the team.

The next ninja was a woman. She had dark brown hair and cruel light brown eyes.

The last ninja was a man. He had dark blonde hair and dark blue eyes. His unattractive face portrayed a simple, wicked smile..

The man with cinnamon brown hair's eye's immediately jumped to their forehead protectors.

His eyes narrowed. "Oh look here. It seems as if we have some Kohona ninja in our presence."

He smiled a sick and repulsing smile. He was laughing at their seemingly innocent approach. The fact they had fooled him into thinking they were not experienced ninja made everything easier. He was quite simple mind simple minded. Yet, the man with blonde hair did not seem to be convinced from the way he looked at them. Despite his suspicion, he kept his thoughts to himself.

The man with cinnamon brown hair was very fast. He attacking pattern was quite similar to Shouta's.

Tenten made a loud struggling sound loud enough for the team to hear. This was indicating she had been captured; she completed her task.

From behind someone grabbed Sakura's arms and kick her in the back. It had hurt. She stood up but I didn't fight back to roughly. She was fighting the cinnamon brown haired ninja in taijutsu. She left herself open and he kicked her again.

This time she did not stand back up again. She just pretended like she reached her limit despite the fact that this was far from the truth.

"Hey, Akemi, Kiyoshi, Be careful not to kill these little kids, okay? The leader will want to know about this and we have to take them in alive. It is too bad though…"

Akemi was to be their helper so each of the Kohona ninja considerably relaxed knowing they were in her care.

The men tied chakra enforced rope around their hands behind them.

Sakura looked over at Neji and Hinata. They carried out their job properly, as well.

Neji was bound by rope all the way around his body. Hinata also had her hands tied behind her with rope. The man with cinnamon colored hair picked Hinata and Sakura up and began carrying us to the boat. Neji was picked up by the man with blond hair and carried to the boat.

On the boat the rest of the team could see Tenten with rope wrapped around her body against the side of the boat. The men set us down roughly near her. On the boat there was another ninja. She had flaming red hair and gray eyes.

"Nice job guys." She called to her team.

"Same to you Akako. For a female" The man with the cinnamon brown hair replied, he said the second part quietly.

She glowered at him; she obviously heard the second part. He just looked at her like he hadn't made the second remark.

"Will you two save your personal brawls with each other for some another time?" Akemi asked them, she didn't seem at all affected by the glares they then gave her.

"Alright… Well, for the moment at least. Besides we have to transport these little kids to the leader." With this remark all four of them scowled at Akako.

Suddenly, the boat jerked and the four Kohana ninja, along with the four Ayakan ninja began heading toward Ayaka. Akemi and the four Kohana ninja were quickly ascending toward the goal to help get Kakashi and Naruto out of the hands of the Ayakan ninja.


	6. Yukio

The Ayakan ninja spoke constantly on the way to Ayaka. They barely stopped talking for even a moment.

At some point on the trip Akako and Akemi went through a door to some sort of cabin room.

The Kohana ninja could hear frantic talking and arguing from the room, but they couldn't tell what they were saying. Akemi walked out of the room first 20 minutes later followed by Akako.

Akako shot Akemi a quick glare and walked away. Akemi resumed steering the boat. She was a bit more up tight than she was before.

From the front of the boat all eight ninja heard Kisho call out to his teammates. "Ayaka is getting really close. We are almost there."

The rest of the way there was extremely boring for the Kohona ninja. All the four tied up ninja could do was listen to the enemy ninja speak of random things. Every once and a while one of them would glance at them and make sure they were still tied up. They didn't have to worry though, because they wouldn't try to escape until they hit land and were near to Naruto and Kakashi.

About an hour later they finally reached Ayaka. Each of the enemy ninja held the Kohona ninja's arms so they could not escape.

"These kids were not as difficult as I thought they would be. I guess Kohona is not as big of a threat as it used to be." The cinnamon brown haired ninja said quizzically.

Everyone remained pretty silent. They walked up to a large wall where several security ninja were guarding. Kisho nodded to a man and the man opened a door for them to enter. The ninja continued escorting us through the small, enclosed town.

There were a lot of mercenaries that the Kohana ninja had seen in the Bingo Book. Meanwhile, they were headed toward a tall building in the center of the village.

They finally reached the building in the center of town. They walked inside and up a set of stairs to a large hallway.

At the end of the hallway there was a door that was slightly open.

Inside Sakura heard a man yelling at someone about some sort of failure. "I CAN'T EVEN TRUST YOU WITH A SMALL TASK!" the man yelling had a smooth voice that seemed to be forced to do something it is not supposed to do when he yelled.

They walked down the hallway to the door.

Akemi knocked on it lightly. "What is it, now?" the man from within the room seemed annoyed when Akemi first opened the door. His face immediately lightened when he saw Akemi.

"Ah, Akemi, what brings you here?" He asked pleasantly.

This man was the leader of the village. He had a large office and important looking face. This man had brown hair that looked almost like chocolate. His eyes were the color of cleaned and cut emeralds. He looked relatively young.

Akemi gestured to me and the other ninja from Kohona in response to his question.

"Oh, I see." He said studying our forehead protectors. "The Hidden Leaf Village." He said like he expected us.

"Can we kill them?" Kisho asked with so much excitement in his voice that it was scary. As Kisho asked the leader this, the man that he was the leader was previously yelling at slipped out of the room very quickly. The leader laughed lightly watching the man scamper away.

"No. Well not yet at least." The leader said readjusting his expression to one more serious. He continued. "That Kyuubi brat and Hakate Kakashi are from their village. Maybe they could be of use to us." All of the features on his face immediately twisted into an evil grin.

He looked like a petrifying and twisted murderer.


	7. Action

**Night of that day**

They had find out that the village leader's name was Yukio. He was so cold hearted and wicked that it was surprising. He didn't appear evil at first look, but being in the same room with him for even five minutes his personality was obvious. He was cruel, impatient and had a malicious personality.

It was scary thinking that these people worked under his rule. Sakura had never felt so bad for mercenaries before.

The four of them were put inside of a cell that had a seal on it. They were stuck for the night even if we wanted to make our move. They took advantage of the 10 minutes between guards passing by to discuss what their plan was.

"…This way we won't have to worry about getting Akemi caught." Neji said speaking of our plan.

They were to make their move tomorrow when Yukio had them transported to some sort of enclosed area. This is where Naruto and Kakashi are being held.

It would be incredible stupid to start attacking while we were being transported with an entire village of mercenaries surrounding them. Rather than that, they decided we would escape right before we reached Naruto and Kakashi. Then they would break them out and flea quickly.

The plan was agreed. They were hoping they would not encounter too many people to fight when exiting.

Everyone seemed sort of tired so they decided they would take turns sleeping. Sakura would stay up and watch over everyone first, she assumed her position. She watched as everyone slid into an unconscious state of sleep. She felt tired too, watching everyone else fall asleep, but she was not nearly tired enough to fall asleep yet so she stayed up watching for almost two hours. She then awoke Hinata and took her turn sleeping.

It was bright outside when everyone was finally awoken by Tenten.

They felt rejuvenated. They ran through the plan in more detail one last time. They had nothing left to do now so they just watched as a guard came by on the ten-minute of the guards stopped walking when he noticed pink hair. His eyes then fell to Sakura's face.

"My, my, if it isn't the little girl from Kohona! What are you doing here?" Shouta laughed a light, wicked laugh. Sakura just stared at him, with a defiant glint in her eyes.

"I guess we should have finished you off while we could have last time. But, you know what they say, People just can't get enough. They need to try again even when they are clearly out matched." Shouta smiled when he looked at the rest of the group.

"I see you've brought your playmates too this time. Well misery...or in this case, failure loves company" He laughed at the sight of me again and walked away.

Five minutes later a team of five ninja arrived at their cell. A man in green clothing spoke. "Come with us. If you struggle or even try to pull anything funny, you will be quickly injured or killed."

He opened the door of the cell and let them walk outside of it. They were then surrounded by five of the ninja and guided out of the building.

They walked through the village toward a large dome shaped building. They kept walking until the team entered the building. Once inside, they could see Naruto inside of a transparent room tied up and bloody. Neji glanced at his team quickly, signaling the beginning of our attack. They readied themselves to fight.

Each one of them began attacking their captors, they were quite simple to defeat. Neji executed the leader just as he was about to attack Neji with a fatal attack. Just as they had hoped they defeated them quickly enough to stop them from alerting the rest of the village.

Still, though, they had to be extremely careful.

They made sure there was nothing they would set off when walking over to Naruto. Nothing seemed to be set up so they walked over to where he was being held. Above the containment he was in there was a number 14. There was some sort of blue gas or something, being emitted into the chamber that he was being held in. The team assumed that this is why he looked so weak. He looked up confirming the fact that he wasn't dead.

He was lying down on the ground. He had rope wrapping around his body. Just the sight of Naruto being in this state made the team angry. He had several gashes on his face and body and he was bruised and marked all over. Despite this, he smiled weakly at them. They wondered how they were going to get him out of the containment he was in. There was a foreign sealing around it.

Neji then looked down a hallway to the right of them. At the end of the hallway there was a deserted table with a lot of paperwork on it and a porcelain teacup. Neji glanced at everyone. Hinata, Tenten and Sakura began walking toward the desk. Neji stayed near Naruto making sure he wasn't left alone.

The group of three proceeded down the hallway quickly. They reached the desk and on it immediately saw an unfamiliar looking control switch. On it there was several numbers listed down the left hand side. Next to each number there were numerous buttons. Each button was a different color. Their eyes instantly darted down to number 14 as if synchronized. Hinata picked up the control.

She handed the controller to Neji.

Hinata spoke, "H-h-how do we know w-what this does? L-let alone what if this h-has nothing to do with this cell?" She paused, was surprised at her outburst, recovered, and then finished somewhat impatiently. "We have to get him out of there!"

Hinata looked at down surprised at herself. The room was silent before her flare of confidence feeding off of the desire to get Naruto out. Everyone recovered from the shock of her unusual self-assurance.

Neji responded, "We will not do anything unless we know what this does. We will get him out, don't worry." Neji said calmly but intensely. Hinata wasn't satisfied at all, though she did not speak again. Tenten, who was tired of waiting to do something, ran down the hall and looked at the papers on the desk. Her eyes widened. She picked one of them up and ran toward her team.

"There's a code on this paper, a guide saying what they do!" She said excitedly.

Next to the red the paper indicated the button opened the door. Next to the yellow it inidicated is stopped all other functions. Neji pressed the yellow button, then the red. Naruto rolled himself out of the room and attempted to stand up. Hinata came up from behind him. She helped him untie the ropes bind around his body.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan" he said to her with a light smile.

She looked at him nervously, "you-u-ur welcome Naruto-kun." She choked out nervously blushing as she spoke to him. He looked away with a curious look on his face wondering why she sounded nervous.

Naruto seemed sort of quiet. Sakura looked at him curiously, realizing from his facial expression that something was wrong.

He spoke slowly. "Kakashi was killed by Yukio." At this statement Tenten and Hinata took in sharp breaths. Sakura was completely shocked.

"Who killed him?" Sakura said bluntly at Naruto.

"It was the leader of the village, I'm not sure of his name." Naruto said quietly. "_Yukio._" She said hatefully under her breath.

No one spoke for a moment.

"We have to leave now." Naruto said quickly.

"We will meet Akemi at the docks where we will 'take over her ship'. This way she can remain here without anyone realizing she helped us." Neji explained to his team and Naruto. He cut through the silence as if he awoken everyone from a dream.

He continued speaking. "We need to leave the village without being detected, though."

Everyone nodded.

Naruto started to seem as if he regained his strength. With this they exited the building without further jeopardizing their escape.

They exited the building and ran quickly, without being noticed. They ran to the outside of the village where the wall blocking in the village was. Suddenly, a shuriken hit the wall right beside them.

They turned their heads to see chocolate brown hair and a smirk, "So you thought you could escape that easily?" He paused then continued. "I don't think so." He finished mockingly.

Hate burned in their eyes.


	8. Motives

Each member of the team was intently staring at Yukio. In the split of a second everyone took positions, ready to fight.

Naruto seemed to look angry, causing Sakura to worry.

"Naruto, keep your head." She called to him.

Naruto's eye's glinted red. Only for a second though, they then turned back to pure baby blue. She stopped worrying about him and turned her attention to Yukio. No one had made their move yet, they weren't used to fighting with each other and they didn't know who was going to go first. Neji called out something to everyone but everyone was too far away to hear what he said. He then ran at Yukio.

They engaged in taijutsu, Neji hitting his chakra points every time he had a chance. Suddenly, Yukio got an opening and punched him in the stomach. He hit Neji so hard that he flew backward, but landed gracefully.

"He's good." He said it almost so quietly that it was almost inaudible.

Unexpectedly, Naruto jumped down from the tree that he was positioned in. Immediately he attempted one of his jutsus. Before he finished his hand signs, Yukio ran swept Naruto's legs setting him off balance. Then when he was attempting to catch himself before he hit the ground, Yukio grabbed his foot. But before Yukio could do any damage Tenten appeared jumped behind him and launched a ton of kunai and shuriken at him. Before they hit him he swung around and pulled Naruto in front of him.

The shadow clone that was Naruto dispelled leaving Yukio open. He then jumped backward before Tenten could launch another attack.

While Yukio was in the air he did some very quick hand signs and preformed a jutsu. Suddenly, the area went black for Sakura. She realized she was in a genjutsu.

It was so dark she couldn't see anything or anyone.

She formed my hands correctly and said "Release."

Nothing happened. All of a sudden, she heard laughing behind her. She turned around to see a small child. She was wearing black shorts and a blue short sleeve shirt with the same strange symbol that was on Shouta and Hiroto's shirts. She had dark hair and dark eyes. She was wearing an evil grin that made Sakura step backward in surprise. As she stepped backward she fell into a pit of black nothingness.

Several senbon needles lunged at her. They hit painfully. The sensation of falling seemed completely real. She had no idea how to get out of this genjutsu and kept falling. Abruptly and unexpectedly, thousands of senbon needles lunged at her from above. She had no way to get out of their path. They were only feet away and all she could do was wait for them to hit her.

She looked up at the needles that were about to hit her. She felt the first of many hit her in the leg. She had no way to block them. She looked at the darkness around her, trying to decide on a way to get out. She felt several more needles hit her in her stomach and arms; one grazed her cheek leaving an open cut. Blood dropped down her face and body. She screamed in sheer pain as they entered her body

She was losing too much blood. She felt light headed as if she was going to fall unconscious.

Suddenly, as if awoken from sleep, the darkness around her faded away. The feeling of falling faded away too.

She realized she was out of the genjutsu. Her body still hurt greatly from the injuries but there was no evidence that she was injured. She gritted her teeth. Tenten and Naruto were kneeling next to her. They had pumped their chakra into her to cancel out the genjutsu.

"She's awake." Naruto's voice snapped her out of her daze.

She looked around her. Neji was still fighting Yukio.

"My turn, Neji." Naruto called from next to Sakura.

Neji momentarily turned and nodded to Naruto. He jumped out of the way as Naruto ran at Yukio. Yukio didn't seem beat up at all, despite the fact that Neji had attacked his chakra points. _  
_Yukio dodged one of Naruto's attempts at attacking him with Raesengan.

He was completely bent on killing Yukio and making sure it hurt him too. The strong desire seemed like him but the idea of him killing in revenge was strange to the rest of the team. The happy-go-lucky person they know melted into a serious person of revenge and hate. Sakura cringed thinking of how similar he was acting to Sasuke. Painful memories floated through Sakura's mind. She looked at Naruto once again. His eyes were reddening.

He glanced at her momentarily and she realized that he was losing control.

Suddenly, Naruto landed a powerful hit on Yukio. Yukio flew backward and did not immediately get up. He was still on the ground for a moment but quickly jumped up.

"WHY KILL HIM!" Naruto yelled.

One of Kyuubi's tails formed behind him. He was losing control of his emotions, his largest flaw.

Yukio smirked at this. Almost as if he was aiming for Naruto to do this.

Yukio signaled something with his hand and a large number of mercenaries swarmed into the battle before anyone could do anything to help Naruto.

With this action the team realized something was going on. And it certainly wasn't something good.

"Well this is going perfectly" Yukio said with a twisted smile, " Finally I get to battle the Kyuubi 'most powerful of all demons'" He said the last part with a small laugh as though Naruto was nothing but an academy student taking on a Kage. "Then I get paid heavily for turning him over to the Akatsuki. Now isn't this a great day!" He yelled to the mercenaries.

Some of them grunted and others answered with a spirited "hai".

As Sakura listened to him she had the desire to stab him. Anger ran through her veins. Kakashi and Naruto were not both going to be claimed by his evilness. She killed two mercenaries and then began running to where Naruto and Yukio were fighting. Any who got in her way would die.

Once she arrived at their battle she noticed a few other people looking at them between attacks.

She felt a presence behind her and turned quickly to kill whoever was coming near her. She punched the female mercenary who lunged at her with dangerously curved daggers. She died and Sakura turned around once again trying to figure out what to do in the current situation.

She wished she could just leap in, but Naruto had almost pulled out 2 tails of Kyuubi's power. If he did not gain control soon there would be almost no way to stop him. Sakura didn't know what to do. Naruto looked like he was winning but Yukio seemed extremely skilled in ninjutsu and he wasn't bad at taijutsu either. Naruto seemed matched even in demon form. Suddenly Yukio formed his hands inhumanly fast into another jutsu and a thick mist was distributed.

Muffled words and a growl were hurt from inside the mist. Yukio yelled in pain. As Sakura wondered if it was safe for her to go in and help Naruto, she punched another person hard in the gut and helped heal Tenten's cut.

Everyone seemed occupied in battle but no one seemed to be working overly hard. No sound was heard from Naruto and Yukio's Battle and the mist started to clear. Immediately she ran into the blunt of the cloud and found nothing. No one was there.

She looked to the village saw Yukio with Naruto slung over his shoulder unconscious. Yukio had one of his wicked smiles on. In the distance several figures stood.

Neji seemed to notice what was happening as well and began run with her toward Naruto.

Approaching closer to the two dark figures they saw Itachi and Kisame.

The pair of them saw Yukio hand Naruto over to Itachi and was handed a large sack of money. Naruto looked almost dead as he limply hung over Itachi's shoulder.

Itachi began leaping away as Kisame stayed to "take care of the brats".

Neji looked at Sakura for a moment and said simply, "Go after him."

She realized he was going to stay and fight Kisame.

Sakura nodded briefly and picked up her pace up as much as she could.

Itachi was ahead of her but she was gaining. He stopped abruptly on a tree, jumped to the ground, set Naruto down and faced her.

The look in his eye was that she was a pest and she had to be exterminated.

She glared at him and jumped from her tree. She dared not to look in his eye. She attempted to figure out his next movement from his feet. She had little to no chance until a second person came to assist her. But, she had no idea when that would be.

She gathered chakra into her hand and hit the ground hoping to catch him in the blow from the attack.

Sakura heard him jump away and cursed that she could not look. She was not to take the chance that she would catch his eyes. She could not tell where he was.

She finally sensed his presence. He was to her right, then her left. She could not pin his whereabouts. She attempted to punch him or at least land a kick but this effort was in vain as she was punched bluntly in the jaw.

Right before the world melted into unconsciousness Sakura saw blue-black hair and white eyes.


	9. Backup

Hinata was using her Byakugan in an attempt to figure out where Itachi was without looking him in the eye.

"A Hyuuga." Itachi said impassively looking at Hinata's eyes.

Hinata remained silent and focused. She couldn't hear him move but she could sense his chakra presence to her left. She got into a stance and readied herself to attack.

Itachi was planning on eliminating her quickly and then killing the pink haired girl. He did not plan on Naruto waking up, which he started to do, catching Itachi off guard. While he was partially distracted Hinata quickly ran up to him until he was in her range and quickly performed gentle fist style.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms" she said and executed the attack. "Two, four, eight, sixteen-"

She was just successfully closing off his charka points in his arms when Itachi kicked her, knocking her into the air backward. Itachi ran toward her. Hinata was about to land but she was unable to evade him. She landed as he punched her in the stomache. She fell forward and right before she hit the ground Naruto caught her.

Naruto looked at Itachi's feet with a hateful glare; unable to look up by chance he would get caught in a genjustu. Naruto was far from in full health. In his last battle he sustained injuries that weren't fully healed and using Kyuubi's charka so much took a toll on his body. He had no idea how was going to fight Itachi while he was so weak and alone.

It immensely angered Naruto to think Itachi almost hurt Hinata. Naruto thought of her as so delicate and pretty. He hating thinking Itachi had hurt her.

Still, he made sure to keep calm. He did not want to lose control again.

Performing his signature move, Naruto brought his arms up into the correct hand sign. A large amount of shadow clones poofed into existence. They brashly attacked Itachi not giving him a chance to attack, only defend. While he was taking on the clones Naruto quickly ran over to Sakura to see if she was alright. She was barely injured but unconscious. He laid Hinata next to Sakura and planned on stalling until someone could come help him.

There was no way he could move both unconscious girls by himself in his injured state. He looked over to Itachi carefully. Most of his clones were gone which meant he had to come up with another distraction, and quickly. He was running out of charka which meant he had fewer options of distraction. He couldn't really fight and he accepted it, though it was hard. He couldn't leave Hinata or Sakura alone, either.

He was completely consumed in his thoughts when someone grabbed his shoulder from behind. He had hoped it was Neji or Tenten coming to assist him but he had not sensed either of them. He looked over to where Itachi previously was and he was gone.

He almost turned around but stopped himself immediately. He cursed himself for letting himself get consumed but his thoughts.

He tried to jump forward but before he could Itachi roughly spun him around and lifted his head toward him.

Luckily, Naruto thought to close his eyes. Closing his eyes gave an advantage for the second but as soon as he needed to move he would have to open them.

He jumped backward with his eyes closed hitting the ground without any hindrance. When he opened his eyes he immediately made a large mass of shadow clones once again.

He sent three to guard the girls and hid a few in the surrounding forest. He then formed a Rasengan and charged where he sensed Itachi.

Sakura stirred and opened her eyes. She first noticed that Hinata was lying next to her and then she saw Naruto charging Itachi with a Rasengan.

Hinata suddenly awoke sitting up straight. She blinked at Sakura and stood up quickly. Naruto hit Itachi dead on.

There was a poof and the Itachi Naruto had hit was a shadow clone. Naruto breathed out in frustration and impatiently turned around.

Naruto felt like Itachi was just playing with him. He was running out of options. He noticed Hinata was awake.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto called to her. She nodded and ran over to him. "I need you to go help Neji and Tenten. When you guys are done bring them here because I don't know how much longer I can hold him off. Bring Sakura with you; I need you guys out of harm's way."

He paused and contemplated what to say next, "maybe all of us could take him on…I'll keep stalling, for now."

She was about to retort but she decided against it because with Naruto it was difficult to argue. She nodded again. She was much less timid around him than she used to be. Hinata wished she could say something comforting but couldn't think of the right words.

She glanced at him one last time and then sprinted to Sakura. Hinata relayed what Naruto told her and they jumped off into the trees.

Naruto once again tried to figure out where Itachi was without looking. He sensed no presence and it worried him. He was running out of charka now so his next attack really needed to count.

He listened intently and his results were nothing. He felt one of his clones dispel and ran toward the area where he felt it. When he got there he felt Itachi's presence and was about to attack when it got closer. Itachi ran toward Naruto at an impossible speed and grabbed the back of his head. Naruto didn't have a chance to close his eyes and was soon staring into the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Suddenly his world turned to black and red. He was tied to a post. He looked up to see Kakashi on the ground, dead. Then, he saw Sakura walk over to him with a kunai in her hand. She began stabbing him. Hinata then joined her, along with Sasuke, Tsunade, and eventually everyone he cared about. Each of his attackers talked about him being a worthless monster. He felt his eyes get wet from the horrible feeling overcoming him. Physically, his body hurt so bad he wanted to jump out of his body to escape the unbearable pain. This repeated for hours upon hours.

Finally he felt himself escape from the horrible world as he fell to the ground a mess. He felt weak mentally, physically and his chakra was almost depleted. He felt Kyuubi stirring to get out but he fought this he couldn't survive anymore of the malicious chakra.

He wanted to give up and just be defeated. Naruto wanted nothing more but he would not give up. He never gave up. He was not starting now.

Itachi stood quietly watching him struggle. He was surprised he was even conscious after what he had just experienced but he knew that he would not last much longer.

Naruto resisted the desire to give into the blackness fighting to take over his eyes.

Itachi was about to step in and just knock him out when Neji suddenly jumped in the way of Naruto. He stood there with several minor cuts.

"Kisame was defeated?" Itachi asked with his usual dispassionate voice.

Neji spared him no answer and got into a stance while he was doing this Tenten, who was on a tree behind Itachi unseal some of her weapons and ruthlessly threw them at Itachi who was contemplating his situation.

He just needed to grab Naruto and go. Leader would be angry enough when he found out Kisame was defeated. Itachi was weakened from using the Mangekyou and needed to recover. He jumped into the forest.

He decided he was not going to run away but instead distract the hindrances.

He formed a simple clone and had to run out of the forest and attack the leader of the group, Neji.

While this was taking place he quickly went to grab the container of the Kyuubi when a certain female white eyed Hyuuga interfered. She stepped in front of Naruto and got into the Gentle Fist stance. Itachi was in no position to take him on so he fled.

Hinata relaxed a bit and when over to the unconscious Naruto.

She stroked his hair gently and sighed hoping he was to be okay.


	10. Finished

Sakura looked over to see Hinata stroking Naruto's hair.

Sakura was only less than surprised. Of course everyone knew Hinata liked Naruto, yet, Sakura did not expect this kind of confidence coming from the timid girl.

Usually being this close to Naruto she would blush and stutter.

She had become more self-confident around him recently but she had not expected her to be so comfortable and close.

She smiled at first but then felt kind of jealous.

Wait? Sakura was jealous that Hinata was so close to Naruto? Where did that come from?

Naruto was like a brother… an annoying one, too. Not someone she had feelings for…right?

Naruto stirred shaking Sakura from her strange train of thought.

He opened his eyes and looked frightened. He closed them muttered 'it wasn't real' to himself and opened his eyes again.

"Hinata?", Naruto said weakly.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?", She responded with confidence.

"Thank you…" he drifted off for a second, "for being here for me when I wake… I'm not lonely" he smiled feebly and closed his eyes again.

Sakura watched this whole thing and once again surprised herself by wishing she was the one Naruto was talking to.

Groaning slightly he sat up looking around.

"What happened to Itachi?" Naruto asked to his surrounding comrades.

Mentally, Naruto felt frantic and crazy. The genjustu really messed with him but Kyuubi lessened the effects.

"We attacked and he ran because he was weakened." Neji said blankly.

"Thanks for saving me… I really thought it was the end when I woke up in that cell. Especially when Yukio fought Kakashi right in front of my cell and I saw Kakashi get…" he trailed off and looked at the ground. "If only I could have done something!" He said in an angered tone. "It's my fault I couldn't save him!" Naruto finished with his fists clenched.

Everyone looked at him sadly, and then Hinata spoke. "Naruto-kun you couldn't have d-done anything and you know it. E-everyone is helpless at some time in their life and you've got to accept you can't s-save everyone." She looked at him with a depth in her eyes.

He looked at her. Everyone else was looking at Naruto waiting for his reaction. Neji was proud of his cousin for finally breaking out of her shell and speaking her mind. Sakura was unsure of how to react to the situation. Tenten was happy for her friend for finally getting some confidence.

Naruto just looked into her silver eyes and blinked in a depressed manner.

"I guess… I know that deep down…" Naruto then lightly smiled, it was a mere shadow of his former foxy grin. He seemed so distant.

"So did you guys defeat that bastard Yukio?" Naruto said with hopeful eyes.

Tenten smiled. "I did, I got him from behind." She chuckled lightly in triumph.

"That's great", Naruto said and stood up slowly. He was in a lot of pain.

Hinata quickly used her arms to support him.

Neji took his chance to talk about the next plan of action. "We killed most of the mercenaries that didn't flee, Yukio is taken care of and Itachi and Kisame fled when we got the upper hand. We have no business left here other than bringing Naruto home and informing Tsunade of our run in." He paused. "First we need to get as far away from this island as we can and hopefully to a hospital or hotel where we can get our injuries treated. Then we will travel back to Kohona in as little time as we are able to. But first, we must find Akemi."

Walking as quickly as they could while injured the team set out to the docks. The way there was followed by the sights of many bloodied and massacred bodies. Hinata gasped at one particularly horrible one and Naruto held her. She was still assisting him with walking and he felt himself blush noticing how close they were.

She blushed too and looked away. Neji eyed Naruto suspiciously; he was protective of his cousin ever since they started to get to know each other.

The team reached the docks and didn't notice any presences. They walk onto the boat that Akemi attended to previously to see two dead people with white senbon needles impaled in their heads.

Suddenly, Akemi walked from behind a barrel.

She sighed in relief, "Good you guys are here. If it took you any longer I was going to have to leave without you." She smiled. "But honestly, what took you? I'm aware of what took place, but after Ayaka was cleared out there you still didn't come." She paused. "I thought you guys had died."

Neji spoke, "If you were aware this was supposed to be a stealth mission, but do to some complications we had a large battle on our hands. Afterward we ran into some company that stopped us from reaching you sooner."

Akemi contemplated this for a second and I decided she wasn't going to further press the issue on why they were late. "I am aware, but to be honest I had a feeling you guys were going to have to fight to be able to leave. I am impressed by how well you guys held up, though. Taking on so many people, I thought I was going to have to step in and blow my cover… But now, I don't believe there is much of a place to stay undercover at… so I believe I'm coming back to Kohona with you guys."

No one knew what to say. Finally Neji spoke, "Thank you for the assistance on this mission, Akemi-san. Are you a ninja of Kohona?"

Akemi laughed lightly, "Yes! I'm a jounin, infact. I was ANBU but I retired and took on this ten year mission."

The team minus Neji looked at her with eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Ten years, here?" Naruto looked shocked.

"Yeah" She said laughing at their demeanor. "That is a conversation for another time, though. Let's get going!" She called out to them.

"I have no crew for this trip…" Akemi said drifting off. She eyed Naruto, Hinata, Neji, Sakura and Tenten. "Could I request all of your assistance?" She asked the team.

They nodded confidently. She smirked; luckily they had never been part of her crew before.

"Someone needs to tend to disposing of those bodies." She looked down, "oh, wait one moment." She put her hand in front of her and the senbon needles in the dead bodies shot toward her and into a container on her back.

Tenten went over to the bodies lifted them up neatly and threw them overboard. She clasped her hands together.

"Taken care of." She said simply.

Akemi continued, "Okay, someone strong needs to hoist the anchor from its resting place; the lever is broken. Someone else make sure to adjust the sails so the wind is blowing in them properly. Someone else needs to be a lookout, and yes, I do know that sounds stupid but we really need someone to…" she drifted off and then continued assigning jobs.

Finally the ship lurched forward and they began on their journey back to the main lands.

After completely most of the assigned jobs, everyone rested quietly. Naruto then became restless.

Akemi was steering the ship silently. A light breeze made her hair dance. Personally, she was bored as well. She was not looking forward to going back to Kohona. She had left to many loose ends untied, which she assumed unraveled and tangled together.

"Naruto have you finished everything?" She said noticing his presence.

"Yes, I have." He responded plainly.

"Okay, good. For now just wait until we get closer to land." Akemi said. "Wait, Naruto?"

"Yes?" He responded once again blankly. He didn't feel like mourning but he didn't feel right being cheerful at the moment.

"Do you know Hatake Kakashi?" She looked over at him.

His eyes widened. He didn't respond.

Akemi continued, "He was an old friend of mine."

Naruto was still silent. Akemi turned to look at him.

"If you don't know him you could just say so." She said with a bit of a rude tone in her voice.

A tear threatened to fall from his eye. Memories flooded through his mind that he had blocked out prior to now. Kakashi was gone. Not like how Sasuke left but could be retrieved. Kakashi was never coming back and thinking about that hurt him more than anything. Being alone he had not lost many people. The Old Man was one of the first deaths he experienced but it still hurt. Now Kakashi was added to his list of departed people that actually cared for him.

Akemi turned around again, finding Naruto sitting on the steps up to the top of the boat tears spilling from his eyes.

She walked over to him slowly and kneeled, "Are you okay?" She asked quietly but alarmed.

"He…" Naruto choked out "He is… dead." Naruto looked down. His tears stopped. He was done crying.

"He was here… on Ayaka. He was kidnapped with me but Yukio killed him."

"Wh-what?" Akemi asked startled. She looked into his poignant eyes.

Akemi immediately stood and walked over to the steering wheel for the ship and continued doing her job. She realized he needed to be with his comrades and she had a job to do. As she heard him leave she noiselessly let spare tears escape her eyes.

Naruto stood up and walked back to the rear of the ship and sat down with Hinata.

He was in no mood for talking or anything of the sort but he needed someone. He looked at her with pleading eyes. She understood and hugged him in a comforting way.

After a few moments everyone from their team was sitting around him. They spoke briefly about the mission. They carefully avoided the topic of Kakashi.

Akemi called out from the front, "Get into position we are going to hit land within the hour."

Arriving on land transpired without problem. They abandoned the ship and began the long journey back to Kohona.


End file.
